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Lesson 1
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Madeleine’s Analysis of Groundhog Day
What I learned doing this assignment:
I learned that giving at least one of the characters a transformational journey can give incredible depth to the story. Groundhog Day isn’t just a comedy, though I laughed a lot, but it’s also a movie about how to use time to live a full and happy life.
- What is the CHANGE this movie is about? What is the Transformational Journey of this movie?
Going from not having enough time in any given day for anybody but himself to living each day like it’s the only day he has left, caring for everyone around him as best he can, especially the woman he loves.
For the audience: From wherever you are to living each day as if it’s your last.
Lead characters:
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- Who is the Change Agent (the one causing the change) and what makes this the right character to cause the change?
Stephanie is the agent of change. She casts a spell on Phil causing him to repeat Groundhog Day over and over again. She’s the right character to cause the change because she has been a victim of Phil’s selfishness and because she has the power to cast spells is in a position to take her revenge.
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- Who is the Transformable Character (the one who makes the change) and what makes them the right character to deliver this profound journey?
Phil is the character who makes the change. He’s the right character to deliver this profound journey because he’s the most selfish.
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- What is the Oppression?
Not enough time is the Oppression.
- How are we lured into the profound journey? What causes us to connect with this story?
We are lured into the profound journey because not having enough time, especially to succeed in our professions without sacrificing those we love or want to love, is something we all struggle with.
Phil believes that he doesn’t have enough time for a real relationship. So do we.
Phil lives the same day over and over and over again. Caught in the work rat race, many of us find ourselves living the same day over and over again, too.
Phil doesn’t see the people around him. Neither do we.
Phil wants to love and be loved. So do we.
- Looking at the character(s) who are changed the most, what is the profound journey?
Phil is the character who is changed the most. He goes from being greedy about time (selfish) to wanting to use the time he has left in the best way possible.
In the conclusion, he opts for a real relationship.
- What is the gradient the change? What steps did the Transformational Character go through as they were changing?
Phil asks himself, what if nothing mattered?
He spends his time “driving fast, getting loaded, and getting laid.
Suddenly, Phil wants to talk to Rita and get to know her better.
He wonders if he’s God.
He starts noticing others. He even notices the bum on the street.
He wants to learn to play the piano.
He starts living each day like it’s the only one he’s got. Groundhog Day is the only day he’s got.
After Phil and Rita experience a genuinely loving kiss, he wakes to a Brand New Day!!
- How is the “old way” challenged? What beliefs are challenged that cause a main character to shift their perspective…and make the change?
His old selfish self, who has no time for a real relationship, is challenged by Stephanie, who thinks they have a shot at a real relationship.
Phil’s belief that he has no time for a real relationship is challenged when Stephanie casts a spell on him that traps him in a long winter of Groundhog Days.
Stuck in Groundhog Day, he asks himself what he would he do if there were no consequences to his actions. His answer is to engage in driving fast, getting loaded, and getting laid. The end result is death.
He starts to be aware of his selfish and inconsiderate behavior. Being kinder to his news crew and people around him reap positive benefits.
He realizes that he loves Rita, but because of his reputation as a rounder, he can’t get close to her. Even when he starts to, he makes one boorish mistake after another.
He decides to study Rita. Every day, he learns more about what she likes, what she loves.
He starts noticing everyone around him and realizes he can make a positive difference for everyone he meets.
- What are the most profound moments of the movie?
Stephanie tells Phil he has no time for anyone but himself.
Stephanie casts a spell on Phil, causing him to relive Groundhog Day again and again throughout a long winter. Ironically, Phil has the same name as the groundhog.
Phil blames the groundhog and sets out to kill him, but the groundhog is protected from public interference at the library and encased in bulletproof glass.
Phil takes care of the bum.
Phil takes an interest in learning to play the piano.
Phil studies Rita.
- What are the most profound lines of the movie?
With Stephanie:
Phil: I don’t have time for a real relationship.
Stephanie: You don’t have time for anybody but yourself.
At the end of the movie:
Phil: You can waste time, you can kill time, you can do time, but if you use it wisely, there’s never enough of it. So you’d better make the most of the time you’ve got.
- How does the ending payoff the setups of this movie?
At the beginning of the movie, Phil is all about himself and his career, especially about becoming a bigtime news broadcaster, and has no time for a real relationship.
At the end, Larry, the camera man, never gets through the blizzard, so none of the Phil’s groundhog reports ever made it on the air. He never makes his meeting with the CBS bigwig. But Rita and Phil lived happily ever after.
- What is the Profound Truth of this movie?
Living a satisfying and happy life is using time wisely, by being aware of those around you, being considerate, being healing, and being loving, not by being selfish and self-centered.
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What I learned while doing this assignment:
As someone who works in narrative strategy, I’m not sure I didn’t know this already, but the assignment was a huge reminder that a story is not fully expressed without a transformation … for the characters and for the audience. For every story I’ve written that didn’t quite land or work, that transformation is the missing element. Also, everything in the film, the character names, the dialogue, the transformation arc, what repeats, what’s left out — it all works together to tell the story. The storyteller has to give attention to it all.
In terms of revisiting the movie itself … wow! There was a lot I missed the first time. I was only looking at it to see what happened. When I started to look for change agents, transformation moments, and profundity, the impact of the film was deeper.
1. What is the CHANGE this movie is about? What is the Transformational Journey of this movie?
Groundhog Day is about choosing to live a meaningful and impactful life over pessimism and cynicism. Happiness is a choice.
2. Lead characters:
Who is the Change Agent (the one
causing the change) and what makes this the right character to cause the
change?Rita is the obvious change agent, and she’s the right character to
catalyze change because she has idealistic beliefs about children, animals
and peace and because Phil has a strong connection to her. As the change
agent, Rita has a chance to send another message to the audience: love always
wins. I also think that the townspeople operate as a collective change
agent. They continue to show up as the day is repeated with the same
words, gestures and exchanges, giving Phil the chance to choose a
different response. For example, Ned Ryerson, who irritates Phil, is an
insurance salesperson (stereotypically boring, somewhat shady, a low
achiever who navigates conversations from a template) is trying to sell
Phil “single premium life.” Bing!Who is the Transformable
Character (the one who makes the change) and what makes them the right
character to deliver this profound journey?Phil is the
transformable character. He’s the right character to transform because he
is arrogant, condescending, believes he’s a celebrity, a harsh cynic, and
a manipulator. On some levels, he is downright unlovable. Everyone knows
someone like this, and they always want to believe that person is
redeemable.What is the Oppression?
The oppression
is time, which is out of Phil’s control, and his own “stuck” life, which
has always been in his control.3. How are we lured into the profound journey? What causes us to connect with this story?
First, we are lured into the journey because Phil is somewhat comedic. We’re tuned in because we keep waiting for the punch lines and want to see how far the arrogance can go. Also, the Gobbler’s Knob ritual is one most people either anticipate to allegedly determine the length of winter or ridicule because they just don’t believe in it. Either way, it’s tradition.
In terms of where we meet Phil Connors in his life, people identify with feeling “stuck,” not living the life they want and deserve, being in a daily monotonous rut and not mattering. Every flawed character trait the protagonist has is a cry for help.
4. Looking at the character(s) who are changed the most, what is the profound journey? From “old ways” to “new way of being.” Identify their old way: Identify their new way at the conclusion:
Phil’s “old way” is sarcasm and complaining. He makes a mockery of everything, including the weather. When he doesn’t really want to be in conversation with people, he delivers his responses to them as a static weather report track. It struck me as significant that weather is the one thing people choose to discuss when they are just having idle conversation or don’t really know the people they’re talking to. Phil took this conversation ritual to a new level.
Phil’s “new way” is fueled by kindness and good will toward others, which is inspired by Rita. He does things for people with no expectation of anything in return. He practically “becomes” one of the townspeople he seemed to loathe at the beginning of this story.
5. What is the gradient the change? What steps did the Transformational Character go through as they were changing?
Phil moves from moving through these transformational steps:
OLD WAYS
–usual pessimism, sarcasm and condescension
–curiosity and questioning what is happening
–resistance (trying to outrun what is happening)
TESTING THE NEW REALITY
–sharing the truth of his experience (with Rita)
–choosing recklessness because he believes there are no consequences
–arrogance and manipulation
DESIRE FOR PERSONAL CHANGE (BUT STILL USING OLD WAYS)
–realizing he had a true desire for Rita and wanted to know her
–using his repeat Groundhog Day experience to manipulate and seduce Rita
RESISTANCE
–withdrawal (“wins” at Jeopardy in the parlor with seniors)
–extreme cynicism (Re: Groundhog Day: “It’s gonna be cold, gray and last you the rest of your life.”)
–anger (tries to kill the alarm clock)
–tries to kill Punxsutawney Phil
–tries to kill himself
ACCEPTANCE
–enrolls Rita in his experience (“I’m a god.” Proves what he knows things he shouldn’t know.)
PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION
–honesty and tenderness (commits to Rita’s brand of kindness toward others)
–practices kindness with himself (piano lessons, sculpting)
–starts a campaign to prevent an old man from dying
–delivers a moving weathercast about the beauty of winter as a life cycle (“Couldn’t imagine a better fate than a long and lustrous winter.”)
–committed to “errands” (helping others)
IMPACT and INFLUENCE
–townspeople and Rita adore Phil as a person because of his talents and kindness
SITUATIONAL TRANSFORMATION / NEW WAYS
–Phil has his “real kiss” with Rita and spends the night with her
–wakes up to a different conversation between the radio announcers
–today is tomorrow and he and Rita decide to stay in Punxsutawney
6. How is the “old way” challenged? What beliefs are challenged that cause a main character to shift their perspective…and make the change?
The old way is challenged when he has no control over time or the repeat of Groundhog Day. Henry David Thoreau wrote, “…the masses of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Phil was quietly desperate to live a more fulfilling life in which he believed he mattered.
The experience he had with tomorrow never coming made him challenge his own belief that he didn’t matter, and that all the people around him were delusional to think that anything mattered. From the first green screen (which looked blue) in the opening of the film, where he’s making hand gestures and casting his shadow, he is proposing and responding to the question: Where would you like to be? His Groundhog Day experience challenges the belief that no matter how much you wish or pretend, you have no choice about where you land. Even when time exerts its control, everyone still has choices.
7. What are the most profound moments of the movie?
Some of the language:
- “Watch out for that first step. It’s a doozy.”
- “This is the last time I do Groundhog Day.”
- “How did you sleep?”
- “I’m a celebrity in a crisis.”
- “See-er of see-ers. Prognosticator of prognosticators.”
- “What if there is no tomorrow. There wasn’t one today.”
- “People place too much emphasis on their careers.”
- Rita’s recitation of the Sir Walter Raleigh poem, “Breathes there the man”: “The wretch, concentre’d all in self, / Living, shall forfeit fair renown, / And, doubly dying, shall go down / To the vile dust, from whence he sprung, / Unwept, unhonour’d, and unsung.”
- Phil’s question to Rita: “What would you do if you were stuck in one place, and every day was exactly the same and nothing you did mattered?”
Also, the ways Phil the man makes a caricature of the weather and the role of weather forecasters. People trust weather forecasters, even when their predictions don’t always hit the mark. The connection to the community is sacred.
And the use of an alarm clock as a “messenger” … Phil couldn’t kill the messenger.
Phil’s first real conversation with Larry the cameraman. (If you want to matter, make other people matter.)
8. What are the most profound lines of the movie?
Answered in Question 7.
9. How does the ending payoff the setups of this movie?
Phil creates the life he has always quietly wanted: He can build memories with someone he loves, he feels like he matters, he’s no longer cynical and condescending to people, and he chooses to live in a whole new geography. He has shifted his own narrative and realizes it’s always been in his own hands.
Also, he will never look at winter in the same dreaded way. It’s a cycle, and even he’s living in his last one, he can make something meaningful of it.
10. What is the Profound Truth of this movie?
You are never really stuck, and living the life you want, in which you matter, is a choice.
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